INSERT causes psql to crash

I have two postgres 7.4.8 databases on hosts X and Y (both P4, running
FC4). I create a table:

create table test(x int)

I then go into psql and insert a row. Here are the results I'm seeing:

psql host postgres host result
--------------------------------------
X X crash
X Y OK Y X
crash Y Y OK

From the shell running psql, the crash looks like this:

*** buffer overflow detected ***: psql terminated
...

(Full output at the end of this email.)

The databases were created in October, and have been receiving
heavy use. They are vacuumed daily. A few days ago, the database
on X started causing the psql crashes described.

The INSERT actually takes place. If I reconnect and examine the table,
the row is present.

Also, inserts through JDBC work fine and the update count is reported
correctly.

DELETE and UPDATE to the same table do not cause psql to crash, just
INSERT.

I've checked the disks using fsck and badblocks, and found no
problems.

Can anyone suggest what might be going wrong, and what I should
examine next?

Jack Orenstein

mydb=> insert into test values(11);
*** buffer overflow detected ***: psql terminated
======= Backtrace: =========
/lib/libc.so.6(__chk_fail+0x41)[0x4c5c45]
/lib/libc.so.6(__vsprintf_chk+0x0)[0x4c5510]
/lib/libc.so.6(_IO_default_xsputn+0x97)[0x448858]
/lib/libc.so.6(_IO_vfprintf+0x1b05)[0x424607]
/lib/libc.so.6(__vsprintf_chk+0xa1)[0x4c55b1]
/lib/libc.so.6(__sprintf_chk+0x30)[0x4c5504]
psql[0x804ea83]
psql[0x8051979]
psql[0x805336d]
/lib/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xdf)[0x3fcd5f]
psql[0x804a8e1]
======= Memory map: ========
00111000-00120000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 716789 /lib/libresolv-2.3.5.so
00120000-00121000 r-xp 0000e000 08:05 716789 /lib/libresolv-2.3.5.so
00121000-00122000 rwxp 0000f000 08:05 716789 /lib/libresolv-2.3.5.so
00122000-00124000 rwxp 00122000 00:00 0
00124000-00136000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 716786 /lib/libnsl-2.3.5.so
00136000-00137000 r-xp 00011000 08:05 716786 /lib/libnsl-2.3.5.so
00137000-00138000 rwxp 00012000 08:05 716786 /lib/libnsl-2.3.5.so
00138000-0013a000 rwxp 00138000 00:00 0
0013a000-0013c000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 716701 /lib/libdl-2.3.5.so
0013c000-0013d000 r-xp 00001000 08:05 716701 /lib/libdl-2.3.5.so
0013d000-0013e000 rwxp 00002000 08:05 716701 /lib/libdl-2.3.5.so
0013e000-00140000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 818787
/usr/lib/libkrb5support.so.0.0
00140000-00141000 rwxp 00001000 08:05 818787
/usr/lib/libkrb5support.so.0.0
00141000-0014a000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 716721 /lib/libnss_files-2.3.5.so
0014a000-0014b000 r-xp 00008000 08:05 716721 /lib/libnss_files-2.3.5.so
0014b000-0014c000 rwxp 00009000 08:05 716721 /lib/libnss_files-2.3.5.so
00191000-00200000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 815449 /usr/lib/libkrb5.so.3.2
00200000-00203000 rwxp 0006e000 08:05 815449 /usr/lib/libkrb5.so.3.2
0031e000-0031f000 r-xp 0031e000 00:00 0
003df000-003e7000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 716808 /lib/libpam.so.0.79
003e7000-003e8000 rwxp 00007000 08:05 716808 /lib/libpam.so.0.79
003e8000-0050b000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 716695 /lib/libc-2.3.5.so
0050b000-0050d000 r-xp 00123000 08:05 716695 /lib/libc-2.3.5.so
0050d000-0050f000 rwxp 00125000 08:05 716695 /lib/libc-2.3.5.so
0050f000-00511000 rwxp 0050f000 00:00 0
005d6000-0060b000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 716820 /lib/libssl.so.0.9.7f
0060b000-0060e000 rwxp 00035000 08:05 716820 /lib/libssl.so.0.9.7f
0068b000-00694000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 716807 /lib/libaudit.so.0.0.0
00694000-00698000 rwxp 00009000 08:05 716807 /lib/libaudit.so.0.0.0
0071d000-00740000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 815439
/usr/lib/libk5crypto.so.3.0
00740000-00741000 rwxp 00023000 08:05 815439
/usr/lib/libk5crypto.so.3.0
007c9000-007ec000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 716781 /lib/libm-2.3.5.so
007ec000-007ed000 r-xp 00022000 08:05 716781 /lib/libm-2.3.5.so
007ed000-007ee000 rwxp 00023000 08:05 716781 /lib/libm-2.3.5.so
009e2000-009f0000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 716731 /lib/libpthread-2.3.5.so
009f0000-009f1000 r-xp 0000d000 08:05 716731 /lib/libpthread-2.3.5.so
009f1000-009f2000 rwxp 0000e000 08:05 716731 /lib/libpthread-2.3.5.so
009f2000-009f4000 rwxp 009f2000 00:00 0
00a27000-00a30000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 716705
/lib/libgcc_s-4.0.1-20050727.so.1
00a30000-00a31000 rwxp 00009000 08:05 716705
/lib/libgcc_s-4.0.1-20050727.so.1
00a8d000-00a9f000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 815346 /usr/lib/libz.so.1.2.2.2
00a9f000-00aa0000 rwxp 00011000 08:05 815346 /usr/lib/libz.so.1.2.2.2
00af3000-00beb000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 716819 /lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.7f
00beb000-00bfd000 rwxp 000f8000 08:05 716819 /lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.7f
00bfd000-00c00000 rwxp 00bfd000 00:00 0
00c7d000-00ca4000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 818571
/usr/lib/libreadline.so.5.0
00ca4000-00ca8000 rwxp 00027000 08:05 818571
/usr/lib/libreadline.so.5.0
00ca8000-00ca9000 rwxp 00ca8000 00:00 0
00d39000-00d4f000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 815435
/usr/lib/libgssapi_krb5.so.2.2
00d4f000-00d50000 rwxp 00016000 08:05 815435
/usr/lib/libgssapi_krb5.so.2.2
00dd5000-00dda000 r-xp 00000000 08:05 716699 /lib/libcrypt-2.3.5.so
00dda000-00ddb000 r-xpAborted